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Stourbridge salsa gran gives performance of her life in Britain's Got Talent final

STOURBRIDGE'S salsa gran Paddy Jones was given a standing ovation by the Britain's Got Talent judges on tonight's semi final.

The 79-year-old, who used to run Paddy's Fabrics in Victoria Passage, gave the performance of her life on the ITV1 talent show - having battled through a rib injury to join a host of talented acts all vying to be crowned overall winner.

Paddy, who performs a racy salsa routine with dance partner Nicko Espinosa - 40 years her junior, was dubbed "a true inspiration" by judge Simon Cowell after the action-packed performance on the live show.

Judge and mentor Amanda Holden told Paddy: "I'm so proud of you. You've come back from all that injury that happened to you with fighting spirit."

Fellow judge Alesha Dixon added: "I just think you're incredible."

While David Walliams described Paddy and Nicko's dynamic routine as a "wonderful, wonderful spectacle" and added: "You're the act people have really been talking about."

Plucky Paddy took up salsa dancing after losing her husband David to leukaemia. Having moved to Gandia, Spain, just 18 months earlier - she decided against returning to her home town of Stourbridge after David's death and instead started salsa classes at Nicko's dance academy - where before long their unlikely dance floor partnership was formed.

After a tense, talent-filled final - Paddy and Nicko had to settle for ninth place as the results were announced.

But proud Paddy said of their performance: "It felt wonderful; we knew we'd got so much support - we wanted to give something back. My husband would be very proud."